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| A J Heschel |
The Bible is the book of anticipations. The ground for the hope is in the
promise. The future has a face, and on
its face to see the glory.
There is evil, there is anguish. There is death, agony, exile. But beyond all darkness as the dawn.
“On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all
peoples a feast… And he will destroy on this mountain the covering that is cast
over all peoples, avail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the
Lord will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people who
will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, “low, this is
our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us stop this is the Lord;
we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation”” (Isaiah
25:6-9).
The evil state of the world, with its ugliness and violence,
will not endure for ever. At the end of
days, and a climax of days, there will be a new dawn of history. Redemption all come, cleansing the world from
war and hatred. This is God’s pledge and
Israel’s hope. At the same time,
biblical eschatology and all our hopes for the future are mysteriously centred
in the Holy Land.
There is a unique association between the people and the
land of Israel. Even before Israel
becomes a people, the land is preordained for Israel.
Even before there was a people, it was a promise. The promise of the land. The election of Abraham and the election of
land came together. The promise of the
land to the patriarchs as the leit motif in the Five Books of Moses. Israel’s claim upon Canaan goes back to the
earliest period of its history and was thought of as having as origin in the
will of God, since it was to the Lord that this land belonged and he alone
could dispose of it.
Beyond the promise of the land and increasing prosperity,
the promised Abraham was a blessing for all the families of the earth. The gift of the land is in earnest of a
greater promise.
The granting of the land of Canaan to Israel by the Lord is
a scene reflected upon again and again. “Then
he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and
honey” (Deuteronomy 26:9). Thanksgiving
for this grant remained alive and never-ending praise throughout Biblical
history.
Pagans have idols, Israel has a promise. We have no image, all we have is hope.
Israel reborn as a verification of the promise.
History goes on in time as well is in space, and according
to biblical faith, the promise of redemption of all peoples involves the
presence of this people in this land.[i]
For Christians, the idea of a promise should immediately
bring to mind Paul’s words: “the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body,
and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.[ii]”
[i] Source:
Heschel, A J (1967). Israel: An Echo
of Eternity. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. New York. Pages 43-44; pages 49-51.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Polish-born American rabbi and
one of the leading Jewish theologians and Jewish philosophers of the 20th
century. Heschel, a professor of Jewish mysticism at the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America, authored a number of widely read books on Jewish
philosophy and was active in the American civil rights movement.
[ii] The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version. (2016). (Eph 3:6). Wheaton: Standard
Bible Society.
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